Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-07-15

"sWell! art thou coming in, or art thou
not?' said a horned demon to me as he
prodded me with his fork.
"'I? I am not coming in. I am a
friend of Godl'
" Thou friend of God! Thou Scurvy
old rascal! What art thou doing here,
then?'
81 come-ah! do not speak OF it; can
hardly keep myself up-I come-from far
-humbly to ask you-if by any chance
you should have here-any one-any one
from Cucugnan'
"'Ah! fire of God! thou art playing the
fool. AS if thou didst not know that all
Cucugnan is herel Stay, ugly old brute,
lookl and thou wilt see how we arrange
for them here, thy famous CucugnanardsP
"And / saw in the midst of a frightful
whirlwind of flame, tall Coq-Galine-you
all knew him, my Coq-Galine,
who was so often drunk, and so often
shook his fists at his poor Clarion. L
saw Catirnet-that little hussy-with her
nose in the air, who slept all alone in the
barn. Do you remember it? But let us
pass on; I have already said too much
about it. saw Pascal Doigt-de-PoiX, who
manufactured his oil with the olives be-
longing to M. Julien. l saw Babet, the
cleaner, who, while cleaning, in order the
more quickly to make up her bundle,
helped herself from the sheaves. l saw
Master Crapasi, who so cleverly oiled the
wheel of his wheelbarrow; and Dauphlne,
who sold her well water SO dear. | saw
Tortillard, who, when he met me bearing
the good God, went on his way, cap on
head and pipe in mouth-as proud as Lu-
cifer-as if it were only a dog he had met.
/ saw Coulan with his Zette, and Jacques,
! and Pierre, and Toni''-
Terrified, white with fear, the congre-
cation groaned as they pictured to them
selves, in wide open hell, one his father,
another his mother, another his grand
mother, his sister
s'You know well, my BRETHREN con-
tinued the good Abbot Martin-''you
know well that this cannot last. I have
charge of your souls, and 1 will, / will
save you from the abyss whittier you are
plunging headlong Tomorrow I shall
set myself to the task, no later than to
morrow And there will be no lack OF
work! This is how / shall arrange mat
tiers. In order that all may go well, all
must be done in order. We will proceed
row by row, as they do when they dance
at Jonquieres.
Tomorrow, Monday, I will confess the
old men and women. That will be
nothing.
s'Tuesday, the children. I shall soon
have finished.
"wednesday, the bigger boys and girls.
That may be long business.
Thursday, the men. We will cut ii
short.
''Friday, the women. should say Nc
tales
Saturday, the miller! One day fol
him all alone will not be too much.
f ''And if by Sunday we have finished we
shall be very lucky.
''You see, my children, when the corr
is ripe it must be cut, when the wine, is
tapped it must be drunk. There is enough
of dirty linen here; it must be washed
and well washed, too.
s'This is the grace which I long for yor
all. Amen"
What was said was done. The wasf
proceeded forthwith.
Since that memorable Sunday the per
fume of the virtues of Cucugnan has
spread for ten leagues round; and the
good pastor, NJ. Martin, happy and full
of cheerfulness, dreamed the other night
that, followed by his entire flock, he
climbed in Respondent procession the
starry path up to the heavens, amidst
lighted tapers, and clouds of incense
which enveloped the choisters as they
sang the TIE Deum.-A. Daudet in Temple
Bar.